This invention relates to a centrifugal oil separator with a housing enclosing a plate separator comprising a plurality of spaced plates forming between them flow paths for a gas to be cleaned.
Published U.S. Patent Application No. US 2003/0178014 A1 (=DE 100 44 615) discloses a centrifugal oil separator for separating entrained oil from gases vented from the crankcase of an internal combustion engine. The centrifugal oil separator comprises a rotatably mounted and drivable plate separator in a separator housing composed of a plurality of approximately conical plates stacked one above the other and held together with a distance between them, thereby forming flow channels between adjacent plates of the plate separator. Between the plates, ribs or pins be applied to the top or bottom side of the plates to guide the flow and to stabilize the stack of plates. The venting gas flows radially through the plate separator from the outside to the inside, whereupon the droplets of oil in the venting gas are deposited on the bottom side of the plates and are thrown radially outward by the rotational movement of the plate separator due to the centrifugal forces generated by the rotational motion of the plate separator and due to the oblique inclination of the plate walls, and the droplets are discharged through an outlet opening provided in the bottom of the separator housing.
Due to the rotational movement of the plate separator, flows directed essentially radially outward may develop in the flow paths between adjacent plates, counteracting the flow of the venting gas from the oncoming flow side which is on the outside radially to an axial outflow channel which is on the inside radially. To nevertheless ensure an unambiguously defined direction of flow from the outside to the inside radially, a minimum pressure gradient must prevail between the oncoming flow side and the discharge side so that despite the rotation of the plate separator, a main direction of flow can develop from the outside to the inside. In such a case, it is unavoidable that a substantial pressure drop will occur across the oil separator.